The National Farm Toy Museum is a museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 located in Dyersville, Iowa

Dyersville, Iowa

Dyersville is a city in eastern Delaware and western Dubuque Counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is part of the Dubuque, Iowa, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,035 at the 2000 census and was estimated to be 4,167 in 2006....

, that specializes in preserving and displaying scale model

Scale model

A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...

s, replica

Replica

A replica is a copy closely resembling the original concerning its shape and appearance. An inverted replica complements the original by filling its gaps. It can be a copy used for historical purposes, such as being placed in a museum. Sometimes the original never existed. For example, Difference...

s, and toy

Toy

A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...

s based on farm equipment

Farm equipment

Agricultural machinery is any kind of machinery used on a farm to help with farming. The best-known example of this kind is the tractor.-Soil cultivation:*Cultivator*Cultipacker*Chisel plow*Mulch tiller*Harrow**Spike harrow**Drag harrow...

. The initial idea of the museum came from the founders of the Ertl Company

Ertl Company

The Ertl Company is an American toy company best known for its die-cast metal alloy collectible replicas of farm equipment and vehicles. The company is based in Dyersville, Iowa, home of the National Farm Toy Museum...

, Dave Bell and Claire Scheibe.

History

The National Farm Museum was founded in 1986; the founding of the museum arose from a discussion between Dave Bell and Claire Scheibe about needing a bigger space for the coming National Farm Toy Shows.

Present

The museum has over 30,000 guests each year and about 30,000 farm toys; it is also the center of the National Farm Toy Show. The National Farm Toy Museum includes one of the largest collections of cast iron

Cast iron

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

 farm toys. The museum is a part of yearly toy shows in April, June, July, and November. The first floor of the film has a 10 minute short film for guests to watch, about toy production in Dyersville and farm toy aficionados talking about their collections. The floor also includes a play area, diaramas of farm homestead

Homestead (buildings)

A homestead is either a single building, or collection of buildings grouped together on a large agricultural holding, such as a ranch, station or a large agricultural operation of some other designation.-See also:* Farm house* Homestead Act...

s, and small exhibits that detail how toys are produced. The second floor has many farm toys stored in cases, truck toys in cases, and a collection of cowboy and Native American dolls. The museum also houses a gift shop. Ertl CEO Fred Ertl Jr.'s personal farm toy collection was auctioned off at the National Farm Toy Museum after he retired. Thanks in part to the museum, but also to the fact that three farm toy companies are located in Dyersville, the city is known as the Farm Toy Capital of the World.

Toy shows

First started in 1978, the National Farm Show includes a tractor parade, garage sales, antique tractors, antique farm machinery, and a farm toy show that is both inside and outside. The first show had 35 vendors and over 1,500 people shopping. The museum also hosts the Midwest Toy Truck Show which is smaller than the national show.

Reception

The author Ernest W. Baker went to the farm where the film Field of Dreams

Field of Dreams

Field of Dreams is a 1989 American fantasy-drama film directed by Phil Alden Robinson and is from the novel Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella...

 was filmed, but his main purpose was to visit the farm toy museum and Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...

describes the museum as "quirky".